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Review - I Dont Feel at Home in this World Anymore

By midlandsmovies, Jul 25 2017 07:13PM

I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore (2017) Dir. Macon Blair

A mild-mannered hospital helper who is pissed off by dog-shit, novel-spoilers and rude supermarket patrons is the unlikely hero in this new indie farce from Macon Blair. Despite these tiny annoyances building up, her real problems begin when she returns home to find it ransacked and with the incompetent police taking little interest in her case she takes it upon herself to find the culprits.

Mixing domiciles and homicides, this great movie stars 2 and a Half Men’s Melanie Lynskey as the protagonist Ruth who thinks “everyone is an arsehole” and her existential nihilism turns to positive action as she attempts to recover her stolen goods.

Along for the ride is the ever enjoyable Elijah Wood (who has been excellent in his eclectic post-Frodo films like Sin City, Maniac and Grand Piano) and here he plays a weirdo ninja-neighbour who Ruth initially uses as ‘muscle’ on her journey. The film’s humour mixes with a dark story and as Ruth follows the trail of her valuables she falls deeper into a more sinister plot involving a group of cult-like criminals. One of their members is Devon Graye as Christian who looks a cross between Eminem and Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine and his gang plan to extort money from his rich father.

Directed by Macon Blair (the star of Blue Ruin), it contains familiar themes of an unlikely suburban hero mixed with violent criminals and Blair throws in some great sequences including a thrilling chase at an antiques market and a melancholic comedy scene with the police – who continually refuse to fully involve themselves in the case. The darkly comic scenarios make the gore and blood all the more shocking when they arrive and the movie has a great balance of over the top characters with realistic decision making.

One of the biggest and best surprises of the year so far, a superb central performance shows how one frustrated nobody can go almost full-on “John Wick” in the face of an apathetic society. Funny and fascinating, this indie gem uses the reluctant hero trope to perfection as an awkward misfit becomes involved in crimes just by circumstance and bad luck. Yet, there’s no bad luck in the execution by the filmmaker who delivers a knock out punch of hilarity and humanity.